train wreck | rick grimes

chapter twenty-three

"WE LOOK NOT AT WHAT CAN BE SEEN. BUT WHAT CANNOT BE SEEN. FOR WHAT CAN BE SEEN, IS TEMPORARY." Father Gabriel spoke as everyone gathered around Tyreese's lifeless body as it lay in the ground.

Danielle stood next to Carol, who was sobbing silently as she looked at his body. The woman stood there motionless, making Rick and everyone else a little worried for her as she looked like she was gonna break at any time.

Carol handed her the shovel, her taking it in her cold hands and throwing a pile of dirt on his body, her hands shaking a bit as she handed it to Sasha and the woman took it with a somber look on her face.

Rick looked to her across the way, seeing her a little pale and shaky. It had probably been about a couple days since she ate or drank anything as she didn't have an appetite for anything.

After the funeral, Rick had walked up to her, holding her arms so she could look at him. "Danielle, Danielle..." He called out, not seeing a reaction coming from her until he saw her sway a bit and her eyes roll back, completely blacking out.

He caught her quickly with panic in his eyes as he called her name. "Shit. Danielle, wake up. Wake up..."

Daryl came up to him, handing him a bottle of water. Rick thanked him and poured it on her face, her slowly waking up in his lap.

She quickly grabbed the water from his hands and downed it, happy to feel water go down her throat.

Rick grabbed her face and she looked to him, showing no emotion. Danielle got up and walked towards where everyone else was, completely ignoring Rick.

The man sighed and looked down, wondering what he did to make her not talk to him.

1 week later.

Danielle wheezed slightly as she walked with her feet dragging on the ground. She was walking beside Rick, who was holding Judith in his arms.

Daryl told her that he was gonna go and hunt and she nodded, not having the energy to talk.

Rick bumped her shoulder a bit, trying to get her attention. She turned to him slowly, trying to hold a smile on her face but failing.

He took notice of this and was about to speak until Judith started to cry a bit. "I think she's hungry." Danielle stated sadly.

Rick sighed and looked to his daughter. "I know. We need to find food and water." He paused and looked to the sky, seeing it was slightly gray with a mix of little bit blue. "It might rain soon, we also need to find shelter."

Danielle nodded, taking a sip from the dirty water bottle, not caring if she gets sick from it or not.

She heard a couple of the group members talking behind her with a low voice, many of them not being able to talk because of how much energy it contains.

"Here. Let's rest here." Rick told them, everyone stopping and putting their bags down.

A sudden stir came from the bush, everyone pointing their guns towards it, but once it revealed it was just Daryl, they held down their guns as they sighed in relief.

Danielle's eyes followed him as he went and sat down away from everyone. Kinda how he was when she first met him.

They had all been sitting there for about five minutes before the walkers had caught up to them and they had to start moving along.

"C'mon!" Rick yelled to everyone as they rushed to get away from the walkers.

Danielle was ahead and she stopped once she reached water bottles that had a note.

'From a friend' It said as she picked it up, showing Rick.

"No friend of ours." He growled as Judith started to cry as the rain started to fall from the sky.

Danielle looked to the sky as it fell, washing off all the dirt off her body. Rick handed Judith to Carl once he noticed that it started to rain harder and more walkers started to make their way towards them.

Danielle took out her machete from its sheath. Her hands shook as she sliced the walkers. She looked to Rick, who was using his small knife to kill them.

She looked around and saw Daryl emerge from the forest. "There's a barn!" He yelled, everyone moving towards the shelter determined.

Danielle was the first one in along with Michonne, leading in everyone else who went to clear it out of any walkers.

There was one walker that the woman had come across, which oddly looked a lot like her old boyfriend whom she hasn't seen since the beginning of the apocalypse.

Danielle plunged her machete into it's skull as she looked at it closely, seeing it wasn't him. She felt someone behind her and turned around, seeing Carol.

"They must've killed themselves." She stated once she looked around at the rest of bodies.

"Or they just didn't give up." Carol said sadly. "Like us."

Danielle scoffed and walked away, seeing everyone gathering around to build a fire.

The sun went down quickly as the fire was burning slowly in the small corner of the barn. Rick looked to Danielle from beside him, smiling sadly. She just looked back at him, not showing any emotion.

He then looked to Carl, sighing sadly. "He's gonna be okay." Danielle whispered to him reassuringly.

He then turned around to face everyone around the fire. "I used to feel sorry for the kids that have to grow up in this. But I think I got it wrong." Rick started. "Growing up is getting used to the world. This is easier for them."

"This isn't the world." Michonne said.

"Until we see it otherwise, this is what it is." Danielle said lowly, making sure everyone heard her.

Everyone sat silent as she started to fall asleep, tilting her head back and it hitting the wall.

It had probably passed around an hour cause Danielle felt someone tap her shoulder and she shot up, getting scared for a second and then calming down once she realized it was Rick.

"Hey." He whispered gruffly. She scooted over and Rick sat down slowly, leaning towards her.

"Did I fall asleep?" She asked and Rick hummed, sounding a little tired.

"Yeah."

She leaned into him and sighed deeply, closing her eyes. "Where's Judith?"

"With Carl." He told her and she nodded against him.

"I'm so tired." She says, her slowly drifting off.

"Me too." Rick stated as he wrapped his arms around the woman he loves.